Abstracto

Remote Sensing and GIS for Assessing the Impact of Changes on Land Use/Land Cover in Dindigul District, Tamil Nadu, India

Mani ND, Rama Krishnan N

Land Use/Land Cover (LU/LC) is an important indicator to understand the impact of climate change as well as anthropogenic activities on earth surface. LU/LC can be assessed effectively and objectively with the use of new and emerging technologies like remote sensing and Geographical Information System (GIS). Therefore, an attempt has been made to assess and understand the changes LU/LC in Dindigul district, Tamil Nadu State using satellite images and GIS. Two sets of remotely sensed data, TM (1990), IRS-P6 LISS III images (2009) were used in the study. The study results show that there is an increasing trend in built-up area, especially in urban built-up. The areal extent of plantation has increased and the crop land and fallow land has decreased. The spatial distribution of forest area has showed decreasing trend, mainly the dense forest has decreased two times between 1990 and 2009.